Virden Victorious In Modified Championship Main

Jeff Garvin

Mar 06, 2007

Russelville, Arkansas’ Johnny Virden took the lead early from both front row starts and then ran away from the star studded field to grab the Modified portion of the Texas World Dirt Track Championship. Virden led flag to flag with little challenge as he pocketed the $3000 top prize.

After a four-wide salute to the fans, Howard Willis and Jeremy Rasmussen paced the 24-car Modified main to green. Rasmussen outgunned Willis into turn 1, but it was Johnny Virden coming from outside row two taking the lead on lap 1. Clyde Dunn fell into second, with Heath Davenport, Jason Ingalls and Willis in the top five. Virden quickly broke away from the two three car packs behind him.

Willis’ chance for the weekend sweep came to an end on lap 7 when he slowed after being passed by Tim Clonch, Chad Wheeler and Eric Turner. The other front row starter had his problems also when he spun in turn 2 after contact within a wolfpack battling for 10th. On the restart, Dunn looked high, then low in a futile attempt to get by Virden while Wheeler got by Ingalls for fourth.

It didn’t take long until Virden was again pulling away to a big lead as the field strung out into single file formation. Turner finally began to put some pressure on Clonch for sixth, with Jamie Burford going past Michael Robertson for 10th. Davenport took over second from Dunn on lap 15, as Wheeler and Ingalls closed in.

At the crossed flags it was Virden, Davenport, Dunn, Wheeler and Ingalls in the top five. Wheeler continued to work his way up taking third from Dunn on lap 20. The top three then separated out with big gaps between them and no fights for position going on in the top 10. In the final laps, Davenport and Wheeler would cut into Virden’s lead but never got close enough to mount a challenge as Virden snagged the victory in his Frye Motorsports, Cates and Company Motors, New Vision Graphics, GRT Chassis. “The first corner was the key to the win., ” said Virden. “ I think I was the first one to find the groove. Once I got in it, I knew it and I was hammer down after that. I got there first and I think they were just above it. After I found it I could just motor away from them. ” I was mainly concerned about Howard(Willis). I raced him hard last night and he was better than I was. We changed some things on the car for today. We knew which direction to go. ” “This is the biggest car count race I’ve ever been at. We raced some big money shows but they only had 60-80 cars, not 200. The track is similar to a lot of ½ mile tracks we race. It’s a little faster with bigger corners. It’s a good fast, wide track to race on. ”

Modified 30 lap A-main

1. 1v Johnny Virden, Russellville, Ark.

2. 7D Heath Davenport, Yedville, Ark.

3. 88 Chad Wheeler, Muskogee, Ok.

4. 88xxx Clyde Dunn, Sunnyvale, Tx.

5. 34 Jason Ingalls, Longview, Tx.

6. 88x Tim Clonch, Quinlan, Tx.

7. 99t Eric Turner, Hermitage, Mo.

8. 5a Wes Armstrong, Marshall, Tx.

9. 27s Greg Skaggs, Bixby, Ok.

10. 4g Gary Clark, Walker, Mo.

11. 19 Jamie Burford, Keatchie, La.

12. 10w George White, Ft Worth, Tx.

13. 5 Sean Jones, Irving, Tx.

14. 05 Michael Robertson, Minden, La.

15. 21 Chris Brown, Cleveland, Tx.

16. 125 Scott Green, Durby, Kan.

17. 727 Glen Hibbard, Euless, Tx.

18. 101 Chris Henigan, Marshall, Tx.

19. 701 Henry Witt jr, Waco, Tx.

20 115 Nathan Mayes, Springdale, Ark.

21. 87 Billy Melton, Longview, Tx.

22. 31j Jeremy Rasmussen, Bentonville, Ark.

23. 1x Howard Willis, Dayton, Tx.

24. 15 Larry Campbell, Van Buren, Ark.